Yesterday I posted photographs of painted birds – today I feel inclined to share the real thing. I can never decide which season is the best for photographing birds – so I probably will talk about them for every single one, starting with fall. In fall you have the color of the leaves and berries that spectacularly offsets the shape of the birds.

The light is relatively low at the times they are feeding allowing for better shots.

Some trees are almost bare already from the summer drought or have few leaves left after the onset of the rain, allowing for good viewing.

 

There is much we can do to help them through the winter – or, as the case may be, we should do little in terms of cleaning up the yards…..http://www.audubon.org/news/to-help-birds-winter-go-easy-fall-yard-work

There is, alas, less we can do for the migrating birds, which are now arriving or gathering in large groups to take flight towards warmer climes. They are killed by the millions from hitting TV and radio towers, and up to one billion birds die each year from flying into windows in urban areas.

The link below describes an interesting study that also looks at the consequences of light – mostly urban, industrial-strength light, that disorients birds enough to loose their migrating paths. On my walks I frequently see signs in neighborhood backyards calling for lights out in the city. I now understand why.

Here are some of the migrating birds you can see in these October/November weeks – geese, cranes, swans, red-winged blackbirds,pintail ducks and snowy egrets.

 

http://www.audubon.org/news/9-awesome-facts-about-bird-migration

When I walk the fields surrounded by their calls I feel a mix of extreme gratitude to be so close to nature, and equally strong longing that I could just take off with them. There is something so unbound, so untethered about the whole migration, never mind that it is a dangerous travel, and really preprogrammed into your genes, not exactly “free.”